What's in a Name?
by Sarah's Scrawls
Summary: Why is Lily, Pippin's younger sister, the only one in the family whose name doesn't start with a P? Oneshot


So, yet again, this is just an idea that hit me yesterday, and I decided to post it on FF. I'll probably look back in a week and wonder, "Why did I ever think this was a good idea?" Anywho, for now, laugh at it or enjoy it, and please review it.

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"No, Lily, you can't go with Merry and Pippin to The Green Dragon! It's not a proper place for girls to be, and they're likely to get into any type of mischief." Pervinca Took, exasperated, sat her younger sister down on a chair and tried to explain. "A young lady should be helping her mother in the kitchen, or cleaning her room, not running wild with her brother and cousin." Pippin had entered the room unnoticed and now burst out with,

"Oh come on, Pervy, let her come with us! She'll have plenty of time to grow up later." Pervinca bristled.

"If you talk about growing up, Pippin, shouldn't you have done that a while ago?" Pippin shook his head, took Lily by the arm, and said,

"Come on, Lily, Merry's waiting outside." Lily didn't have to be told twice. When they were outside, she said,

"Thank you for rescuing me, my knights in shining armor." They bowed, kissed her hand, then Merry said, laughing,

"We're actually not going to The Green Dragon, as much as we would like." Lily began to protest, but Merry continued. "We've got a better plan. We're going to Farmer Maggot's." Her disappointment vanished, and Lily asked,

"You mean, we're going to get some mushrooms? Hurray!" Pippin hushed her.

"Be quiet, or Pervy's going to know we're up to something." Merry tried to imitate is older cousin, saying,

"'What are three children doing outside on a nice day like this? You might be up to something.'" They all had a good laugh, then went on their way. Knowing it would be a long trip, Merry had packed plenty of food (Though, of course, no mushrooms, those being expected at the end of their trip). Lily had had an inkling, and therefore, when they stopped for lunch, she produced from her pockets several carrots she had managed to conveniently drop in.

"You know," she said, "you two are a bad influence on me, teaching me to steal and all."

"Nonsense!" said Pippin. "It's not stealing. We were going to eat it one day, so why not now?"

"And," added Merry, "we have to be a bad influence to someone. Why not you?"

"After all, you are the odd one in the family, what with not having a name that starts with a P." Pippin's attempt at humor did not have the effect he wanted on his younger sister. She grew serious. Seeing this, Merry said,

"Oh, come now, Lil, you know he's joking. Who cares if your name doesn't start with a P?" It didn't satisfy Lily.

"But it's true. Why doesn't my name start with a P, like everyone else in my family? Did they think I would do something bad one day?"

"No!" cried Pippin. "It's probably 'cause they knew you'd be the special one in the family."

"You mean special in a bad way," she said. "And if anyone would be special, it would be you." Merry snorted.

"Imagine, Pippin, doing something special. Maybe a Gondorian soldier? Nope, I can't see it." Pippin smiled.

"See, ask anyone, and they would tell you no, I'm not going to do anything special. And do you think Pervy, Pearl, or Pimple's going to be special one day? Ha, I don't think so." Merry nodded his agreement.

"So I guess no one in our family's going to be special then." Lily said woefully.

"Hey, look at it this way, you could have been named Pansy." Merry laughed.

"That was my idea, but no one paid any attention to it." This time Pippin laughed, and so did Lily. Just then, Merry said, "Here comes Frodo! Quick! Let's hide and surprise him!" Pippin muttered in Lily's ear,

"Speak of the Pansy himself." Lily stifled her laughter rather unsuccessfully and lay down in the grass. As it tickled her side, she began to wonder if Merry was playing a trick on them. She could neither hear nor see any sign of Cousin Frodo. Recalling Pippin's earlier comment, she chuckled again.

"Shh!" whispered Pippin. "He's right there!" Straining her eyes, she finally picked out Frodo coming silently towards them. Did he know they were there? Merry nudged Pippin, and Pippin nudged Lily while whispering in her ear, "Get ready!" When Frodo was mere feet away, all three jumped up and shouted,

"Surprise!" "Hello!" and "Watch out!" at the same time. Frodo jumped back ten feet, and his big eyes grew five times bigger, so he looked like an overgrown bug (or a fatter Gollum, had he known it). It took them a few minutes to return to normal (or more normal) size. The three troublemakers enjoyed the joke immensely, and finally Frodo realized it was funny too.

"Come on, Frodo, go to Farmer Maggot's field with us!" said Merry. Frodo chuckled.

"Funny thing, that's exactly where I'm heading."

"Well then, by all means, come with us!" said Merry. And so a fourth was added to their numbers.

Two hours later, they arrived at their destination. And oh! were the mushrooms ripe for the picking! They couldn't resist also taking a few carrots, and potatoes, and cabbages, and a few other things that Frodo urged them not to take.

And finally, late that night, they arrived home. Of course they were punished, of course they went to bed right away, and of course their parents never found out where they'd been. While they were in bed, Lily woke Pippin up.

"Pippin? Did you really mean what you said when you told me I'd be special one day?"

"Of course," he said groggily, and went back to bed.

Fifteen Years later

"Psst!" Lily woke up.

"Pippin? What is it? Why are you waking me up this early in the morning?"

"Lily! Merry's outside! Oh, but you probably want me to tell him you don't want to go to Farmer Maggot's," Pippin teased, and started to walk away. Lily sat up quickly.

"Peregrin Took!" She cried, but realizing she might wake someone, she lowered her voice. "Peregrin Took! You know I wouldn't miss going to Farmer Maggot's field for the world!" She dressed quickly, grabbed some food, and joined the boys outside.

"You two ready?" she asked.

"No, we were just waiting on you to come out, but no, we're not ready," replied Merry sarcastically. Lily shook her head, and started on her way.

Nothing out of the ordinary indicated that this trip was different than any other. They stopped midway and had breakfast, and a little further on they had second breakfast. They were now too close to the field to stop and have elevenses. At first the picking was fun, and the threesome talked and joked while gathering the mushrooms. Suddenly, a racket nearby startled them, and Pippin realized first,

"Oh no! Farmer Maggot's spotted us! Run!" All three took off together, but in the hustle and bustle and tall grass, Lily got separated from the other two. She ran to the edge of the field and crouched down to wait out the search. She heard no yells, and dared to hope they hadn't been found. When the racket finally subsided, she crept out of hiding back into the field, but her search for the boys turned up nothing. She checked where they'd been at the time of the discovery. She checked where they'd entered the field. She dared not call to them for fear of Farmer Maggot hearing her. She found some carrots, cabbages and other things the boys had picked dumped on the side of the path, but the boys were gone.

After searching for hours, she finally decided to return home and hope the boys would be there or be on their way. Upon arriving home late in the afternoon, her mother met her, and before even asking where Lily had been, announced,

"Well! Just got word that Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee are gone. Vanished! Just clean up and left! I always thought that Sam was a little odd, but I thought Frodo had more sense than that. He probably wanted to be like his uncle, and therefore he-" Just then she noticed Pippin's absence. "Where's Pippin?" Lily said quickly that he was off with Merry. She hoped they would come home soon.

As it turned out, they weren't seen for a long time. Many people in Tuckborough, Lily included, believed something to have happened to them. All felt sympathy for Paladin Took, who now had no son to whom he could pass his title of Thain, and for Saradoc Brandybuck, who had no _child _to whom he could pass his title. The atmosphere of these two homes was subdued, partly from grief and partly from the absence of the two mischief-makers.

One day less than one year later, a strange man entered the Shire. Everyone knew it was a wizard, and therefore many gave him shelter and comfort. Some mistrusted him. Lily was chief of these. She said he wasn't the type of wizard that Gandalf had been. He was evil, she said. She got together a band of hardy hobbits and formed a resistance. She was spurred on by the belief that Merry and Pippin would not have stood for this. Soon many saw that Lily was right about 'Sharkey'. But when they did, it was too late to do anything about him. Lily was among the first to be thrown into the Lockholes, but her stamina kept her from wasting away, and she was the first to be retrieved. Pippin himself retrieved her. He was now a Gondorian soldier, a very traveled hobbit and a respectable person. Lily was shocked to come face to face with her brother, and Pippin laughed through his anxiety.

"My brother, a Gondorian soldier. I never would have guessed. Neither do I think Merry would have." Lily's face took on a pensive expression.

"As for Merry," said Pippin, "he is an esquire of Rohan." Lily gasped.

"A Gondorian soldier for a brother, and an esquire of Rohan for a cousin! How wonderful!" Merry entered just then.

"And I have a Pansy for a cousin." Pippin looked at Lily, winked, and said,

"I thought we were talking about Lily, not Frodo." Merry laughed loudly, not being in on the joke before.

"Well, a Pansy saved the world," he said, and Pippin added as an afterthought,

"And my Lily-livered sister saved the Shire." Then he leaned down and whispered in Lily's ear, "If anyone ever calls me lily-livered again, I'll thank him heartily for the kindest compliment I've ever received." Lily whispered back,

"And if anyone ever calls me Peregrin Took, I'll never speak to him again." But though she tried to mask it, Lily was deeply touched by Pippin's words.

"Didn't we tell you that you would be special one day?" said Merry.

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And yes, I kinda turned Pippin into my youngest brother who's actually 5 years older than me. I was going to use one of Tolkien's characters for Lily, but neither Merry nor Pippin had a younger sister, so I had to invent one. Did you like it? Hope you did.


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